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Client: Twentieth Century Fox Corp.
Creative Agency: Geary Interactive/L.A. Promo
Technology Vendor: Geary Interactive

Promoting the syndication of 20th Television's Emmy Award-winning, high-suspense drama "24," required a fast-paced, exciting, and dynamic website. Geary Interactive and strategic partner L.A. Promo developed a sweepstakes website evoking the themes and technology that audiences have come to associate with the 24 brand. The site incorporates a direct response, watch-and-win component allowing fans to use their knowledge of the show to win cash and prizes. The campaign's goal was to promote "24" airing on weekends and differentiate from the network airings, and to spark interest in the show for prospective new viewers while generating renewed interest in the already established fan base. 

Having created similar campaigns for other popular syndicated programs, Geary Interactive knew exactly what had to be done. Our design team implemented dynamic pages in a Flash-intensive website that fully leveraged the 24 brand, creating a site that speaks directly to new and seasoned fans alike. The site is rich with imagery, games, information, audio, dynamic visuals and refer-a-friend viral components. To maintain a constant flow of traffic to the website, a unique Question of the Day appears every 24 hours giving the visitor the opportunity to watch a short clip from an upcoming episode, and then answer the question. Answering correctly affords the visitor the opportunity to win one of 24 24,000 grand prizes and several secondary prizes. 
 
The campaign results have been remarkable. To date, the site has had over 350,000 page views, and more than 80,000 total visitor sessions. The campaign lasted until October 24th, 2005. Ideally, we would have liked for the campaign to last indefinitely. We would have liked to include personalized navigational aspects into the site, and additional viral elements. The website statistics demonstrate that the campaign has been successful because the website was perfectly tailored to its intended audience.
-- Andreas Roell, CEO/president, Geary Interactive

I have watched the "24" TV show, and as much as I dug the roller coaster ride it took me on, its serialized cliffhanger approach did not keep me coming back. But after going through this site, I began to feel that, if I had an hour to kill, and I saw "24" was on, I might just change channels and give it a shot.

"Reset The Clock" does a good job of establishing what is going on, that you can start over. The experience going in gets you in the mood, from the identification thumbprint intro (I just wonder how many greasy thumb prints this site may have caused?), to the first trailer reminding me I can jump in at anytime. But what sold me was that after this weekend's show, they ran a clip I remembered seeing. I got it right, but it made me rethink for a bit the dynamics of the show, and how the ride might not be a bad one to repeat from time to time. Not bad for a promotion -- making me reconsider my attitude about the show. The narrative relevance and content around that experience are spot-on.

As to the rest of the site, I'm not quite as sure. It is nicely done, though not the best of the espionage genre of sites, and the content is run of the mill for the entertainment industry. There is a viral mechanic, though poorly named "Agent assets" in this case, a weak shooter game using a revolver (Jack does not use revolvers), and listing of times and channels to see the show. I am really not sure that the weak viral mechanic experience and game really added a lot of value. I am all for both of them, but pick one, and use the budget to do more with it.

But in the end, as a promotion, not bad -- it's relevant, clear and it persuaded me to rethink my position on seeing the show again.
-- Glen Sheehan, creative director, Wunderman

From the moment you arrive at the sweepstakes website you know who it is for. The music, the trademark tick-tock, and the energy coming from the site all scream “24”. I immediately begin thinking about the four-hour premiere coming up in January and the many late nights that my wife and I have spent promising each other that we would only watch one more episode off the DVDs. Already I love the site!

Now I’m ready to explore the site and compete for prizes. I bypass the fingerprint scan, enter my credentials, and login. I am then instructed to watch a brief snip-it from a previous episode of “24” and answer a question regarding how the scene ends. Heart-rate rising, I press play, watch the video, and answer the question. Awaiting confirmation of my correct answer I am taken to a page that briefly displays the following message (with barely enough time to read it before it disappears) “PRIORITY MESSAGE:  ATTENTION AGENT…  CTU HAS DETERMINED THAT YOU ARE NOT A GRAND PRIZE WINNER AT THIS TIME” along with a thank you and a request that I return tomorrow for another chance to win. I felt like I was robbed. I thought I gave the right answer. Do I ask my friends for the right answer?

Feeling like my “24” knowledge was challenged I logged back into the site under my other email accounts. I then answered the same question with the other choices only to be told “PRIORITY MESSAGE:  ATTENTION AGENT…  YOUR ANSWER IS INCORRECT”. After all that I discover that my first answer was correct. Why didn’t they tell me that in the first place?

The point of this rant is to message that this site needs to embrace the show’s core audience and have real interactions with them. With a little more usability testing this site would have been phenomenal and would have provided Fox with a more accurate list of email opt-ins. I may take my “24” a little seriously and I’m guessing there a few others out there like me. All that being said, I still plan to go back tomorrow and test my knowledge.
-- Sean Connelly, VP, sales and marketing, Refinery